


Once Upon A December

by Nakahisa



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Heart Break, I guess a healthy dosage of angst, I warn you there is death, Mentions of Newt Tina and Jacob, This song is really good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 00:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17928989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakahisa/pseuds/Nakahisa
Summary: Life, Death, and what awaits after that.Song: Once Upon A December from Fox's Anastasia.





	Once Upon A December

**_Dancing bears,_ **

**_Painted wings,_ **

**_Things I almost remember._ **

 

His fingers brushed gently across a picture frame. He frowned, trying to recall when exactly it was taken. Ah yes, back when they were friends, out on a shopping trip for candy (it was his idea). They bought ice cream, and apparated to an underground walkway, walking to the beach. She looking at the beach-goers, he at her. Spotting a muggle photographer, she suggested taking a picture of them against the sunset. She stood, hands clasped in front of her. He gave her a one-arm hug and a peace sign. The picture never moved, for it was from a muggle contraption, however the expressions captured that day was a reminder of much happier times.

 

**_And a song someone sings,_ **

**_Once upon a December._ **

 

He had proposed to her in December.

They were ice-skating, or at least trying to. She was guiding him along, supporting him with a tight grip on his forearms. “I’ve got you”, she repeated.

After awhile, he skated steadily in one direction, but as he leaned to his left he lost balance and fell on the ice. As her hands still holding him, she fell with him. Onto him. The momentum led them sliding across the ice for a short while.

 

He breathed in and coughed from the frigid air. She sat up and laughed, looking at him lovingly.

“Are you ok? That was quite the fall, Mister.”

He didn’t register her words, choosing to stare at her and appreciate her laugh lines at her eyes. The way her orbs lit up, her lips curled to a smile. Her laughter.

Ignoring the fact he was still lying on the ice, he reached up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back down to lie on him.

He hugged her. She bopped his nose in mock indignation, with her mitten-clad hand.

“Did my nose, by any chance, offended you? Milady?”

“Just wondering if it was still attached, seeing how red it looks. Can’t have you noseless can we? Whatever would your fangirls say?”

“Marry me.”

“What? They wouldn’t say-”

“No, not them. You. Will you marry me? Noseless and all?”

Her body shook, from her laughter, the cold, and the tears.

“Yes. Yes you red-nosed reindeer. I’ll marry you, if you will have me.”

He kissed her, slipping a shiny ring onto her finger.

 

**_Someone holds me safe and warm,_ **

**_Horses prance through a silver storm,_ **

**_Figures dancing gracefully across my memory._ **

 

She had recurring nightmares, each no different from the last.

She used to wake up alone in her bed, cold sweat trickling down her forehead.

Now she would be shaken awake, her man next to her eyes wide with silent worry.

Her tears wiped away by his thumb.

As usual, she would offer him a small smile and settle with her back towards him, fitting into his frame. He would sling an arm around her, his body pressed against hers, hugging her to sleep.

The warmth and security he gave was calming as always, and she would take his hand in hers and hold it against her chest, before drifting off.

 

**_Someone holds me safe and warm,_ **

**_Horses prance through a silver storm,_ **

**_Figures dancing gracefully across my memory._ **

 

He grinned at his fiancee. They were both currently swaying to the music played. She returned with a smile of her own. He dipped her backwards, supporting her back with his palm.

Around them, their movements were mirrored, but no one could come close to capturing the elegance his partner had. All eyes were on them, one a war vet and the other a non-native.

He pulled her back upright, and stared intently into her eyes. She met his gaze, her hand moving up to cup his cheek. His heart racing, the man leaned forward and captured her lips. His beautiful partner pressed into his touch, arms leaving the man’s grip and moving upwards to wrap around the back of his neck. He rested his hands on her waist, both of them lost in the moment.

 

**_Far away,_ **

**_Long ago,_ **

**_Glowing dim as an ember._ **

 

He felt tired, bone tired. He had lived his life, with and without his precious people. He had outlived other people who deserved a longer life.

They should have been the one to live, not him.

Some were so young, fresh out from training.

So... so young.

Battle after battle, he felt himself losing grip on the real world. He didn’t remember how it was like to smile. He stopped wondering about life, and thought about death. Day in and day out, he watched as the faces he knew became lost in the ground. Days, months, and years passed. He was still here.

 

**_Things my heart used to know,_ **

**_Things it yearns to remember_ **

 

“Hello Mister.”

He cracked open an eye and closed it immediately, grimacing at the brightness. Was it morning already? He swore it felt like he had only went to bed. It was cold, being in the middle of winter.

Not that the seasons mattered. He hadn't felt warmth in a long time.

“Wake up red-nose reindeer.”

He felt a bop on his nose, and froze. That voice… That touch…

How long had it been?

Too long. He opened both eyes and tried to focus on the image by his side.

It cannot be.

Can it?

All these years he had lived, was it for this moment? Where she would return to him?

He could see her now, his eyesight having suffered over the years.

Here she was, by his side once more. Dressed in her dark purple outfit.

His partner, his fiancee.

He stared at her, slack-jawed. She gazed at him adoringly, and wiped his tears off from his face.

 

“Y-you… You’re here?” He choked out.

 

She smiled at him, and offered her hand. The glint from the ring caught his eye.

 

“Hey handsome, fancy some ice-skating?”

 

He looked at her, and then at his own hands, one holding onto a picture frame. Hers were beautiful and smooth, his were wrinkly and scarred. His own ring dulled and scratched from countless of spells that sent him tumbling on the ground.

 

“I haven’t been practising, with the war going on.”

 

“I’ve got you.”

 

The man turned his gaze back at his beautiful wife-to-be. He was tired, but with her he might just feel the fun they used to have before it all began. He took her hand and got up, surprised at how light his body felt.

 

“Let’s go my adorable reindeer, to where we can be together forever.”

 

**_And a song someone sings…_ **

 

It was snowing when the funeral director’s staff lowered a white casket into the ground, next to another occupied grave. Newt knelt by the plot, and cried for the passing of his brother. He had never ever felt so wretched before, unable to help his older brother overcome the depressive state over the years. He had seen his brother lose the spark in his eyes, completing his duties mechanically, offering smiles that never reached his eyes. He stopped hugging.

 

Some said he passed away because his body was wrecked by cursed injuries that never healed properly. A true war hero who fought till the end.

 

Newt knew better. It wasn't the battle scars. His brother had died with a smile on his face, hand gripping onto a picture frame.

 

Death from a broken heart. A wound that no known magic could ever heal.

On what would have been his brother's 11th anniversary since being engaged.

 

**_Once upon a December._ **

 

_\----------_

 

_Theseus looked at the gathering. It never crossed his mind that there would be so many people grieving for him. Leta stood by his side, a hand on his arm._

_His heart ached for Newt, seeing his brother so anguished. He saw Tina standing behind Newt, her own hand on his shoulder. Eyes red._

_The muggle was there, Jacob. He held an umbrella over Newt._

 

_Even in death, Theseus could not help but worry about his brother._

_"They will be fine Theseus. Believe in them."_

 

_Theseus looked at his fiancee. All these years, and she had always been waiting for him. His beautiful and strong Leta._

_He took one last look at his family and friends._

 

_"I'm ready."_

 

_He turned, back facing the funeral, and walked away. His hand automatically sought hers._

_"I love you. Do you... You know... Still love me?"_

_Leta brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his now-shiny-again ring._

_"Yes."_

_"After all these years?"_

_"Always and forever."_


End file.
